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Paterno Defended Sandusky

Updated 04.21.17 4:25PM ET / Published 07.12.12 6:42AM ET

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In a letter that surfaced after Jerry Sandusky was convicted for the sexual abuse of several boys over a 15-year period, former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, defended his assistant coach just days before he died. "This is not a football scandal and should not be treated as one," Paterno, who died in January, wrote in the letter. "It is not an academic scandal and does not in any way tarnish the hard-earned and well-deserved academic reputation of Penn State." The letter, apparently, was meant to be a guest editorial but was never published. The letter has now been released one day before a new report, funded by Penn State, on the school's internal investigation into the scandal and Paterno's role in it, was set to be published.